A Source of Shame, Part 4
Dec. 23rd, 2021 01:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingAnd I don't mean to shit on America exclusively.
Canada is the same way, except it's also unbearably cold.
Israel is the same way, except it's also the fucking desert.
The UK is the same way, except the mail doesn't work because of Brexit.
I've been hearing a lot of discourse about Thought Bubble and the TCAF especially. Like, a few years ago you could just show up with a box of photocopied zines, but now you basically have to prove you have at least a six-figure book deal to get a table.
It seems like it wouldn't be that difficult to start your own zine fest, but public space is vanishing. The Small Press Expo, which used to be a very chill and down-to-earth event, has exploded during the past five years but has still found itself in serious financial trouble and on the verge of collapse because they can barely afford their ongoing contract with the small (and sort of garbage) hotel convention center venue they use every year.
Meanwhile, I'm not on the inside of Worldcon (which hosts the Hugo Awards), but I'm friends with someone who is, and his perspective on the current controversy surrounding the event's funding is that, essentially, where the fuck do people think the money is supposed to come from. Which is valid.
Still, the rising costs of everything mean that even relatively "indie" events have become insanely competitive, and what happened to the San Diego Comic-Con ten years ago is now happening to everyone.
My actual honest take on this is that it might be worthwhile, as a creator, to try to look into emerging markets. In other words, places that have an indie comics culture that's strong but still mostly a subculture. Like Germany, maybe? Or Argentina? I think looking into indie comics culture outside of the United States is something I could conceivably do using a grant from the Fulbright Scholar Program... which of course isn't competitive at all lmao.
Canada is the same way, except it's also unbearably cold.
Israel is the same way, except it's also the fucking desert.
The UK is the same way, except the mail doesn't work because of Brexit.
I've been hearing a lot of discourse about Thought Bubble and the TCAF especially. Like, a few years ago you could just show up with a box of photocopied zines, but now you basically have to prove you have at least a six-figure book deal to get a table.
It seems like it wouldn't be that difficult to start your own zine fest, but public space is vanishing. The Small Press Expo, which used to be a very chill and down-to-earth event, has exploded during the past five years but has still found itself in serious financial trouble and on the verge of collapse because they can barely afford their ongoing contract with the small (and sort of garbage) hotel convention center venue they use every year.
Meanwhile, I'm not on the inside of Worldcon (which hosts the Hugo Awards), but I'm friends with someone who is, and his perspective on the current controversy surrounding the event's funding is that, essentially, where the fuck do people think the money is supposed to come from. Which is valid.
Still, the rising costs of everything mean that even relatively "indie" events have become insanely competitive, and what happened to the San Diego Comic-Con ten years ago is now happening to everyone.
My actual honest take on this is that it might be worthwhile, as a creator, to try to look into emerging markets. In other words, places that have an indie comics culture that's strong but still mostly a subculture. Like Germany, maybe? Or Argentina? I think looking into indie comics culture outside of the United States is something I could conceivably do using a grant from the Fulbright Scholar Program... which of course isn't competitive at all lmao.
